The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee  on Wednesday called for  for the Human Rights Council (HRC) to support an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC)  into alleged human rights abuses against the Rohingya community. “I strongly recommend the persons allegedly responsible for the violations of international human rights law and [...]

A three-judge federal panel ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that the Virginia General Assembly violated the Equal Protection Clause by engaging in racial gerrymandering. The plaintiffs alleged that the General Assembly “predominantly relied on race” when drawing up 12 majority African-American voting districts for the 2011 election. The US Supreme Court previously upheld the voting plan [...]

Judge William Alsup of the US District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a suit on Monday against several oil companies, including Chevron Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation . The suit, brought by the state of California and the city of Oakland, alleged that the oil companies were a “public nuisance” under federal [...]

International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda delivered a statement to the UN Security Council on Wednesday criticizing the UN for not taking action against states that did not turn suspects in to the ICC. The Security Council referred the alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur, Sudan by the military [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Thursday that employee stock options given to railroad workers were not taxable under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act of 1937 because employee stock options are not money. Under the act, only “compensation” was taxed, in order to exclude the food and lodging that railroads typically provided employees in [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Thursday that administrative law judges (ALJs) are “officers of the law” under the Appointments Clause , reversing the lower court decision that ALJs are federal employees. The Appointments Clause dictates that “officers of the law” must be appointed by the president, “Courts of Law,” or “Heads of Departments.” In [...]

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that the news service had uncovered regular instances of rape and other forms of sexual violence against Yemeni detainees by prison officials in secret prisons controlled by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The abuse has been reported in at least five prisons. The UAE has arrested “hundreds” of Yemeni [...]

The Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the state of Virginia over the state’s abortion laws, which the plaintiffs deem “burdensome and medically unnecessary.” The lawsuit, brought on behalf of multiple health care organizations, took issue with five Virginia laws regarding [...]

Canada’s Senate approved a bill on Tuesday legalizing recreational marijuana. The vote was 52 in favor of the bill, with 29 senators against and two abstaining. Under the act, the federal and provincial governments will regulate cannabis, with the federal government licensing dealers. It will still be illegal for anyone under the age of 18 [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that a court’s mistake in calculating a sentence under the advisory US Sentencing Guidelines should result in relief for the defendant, even if the original sentence was within the federal guidelines. This decision reversed and remanded the the lower court’s ruling. In Rosales-Mireles v. United States, one of the [...]